The Gossip Ladies

Published by admin on 14/07/2023

by Michel Tremblay, directed by Petre Bokor

Cast

Germaine Lauzon: Dorina Lazăr
Olivine Dubac: Tamara Buciuceanu
Rose Ouimet: Adriana Trandafir
Gabrielle Joidoin: Valeria Sitaru
Lissete de Courval: Iuliana Ciugulea
Pierrette: Virginia Rogin
Yvette Longpre: Angela Ioan, Ileana Cernat
Des–Neiges Verrette: Diana Gheorghian
Therese Dubuc: Jeanine Stavarache
Linda Lauzon: Brânduşa Mircea
Angeline Suve: Anca Neculce
Rheauna Bibeau: Liana Mărgineanu
Lise Paquette: Crina Mureşan
Marie – Ange Brouillette: Carmen Tănase

Directed by: Petre Bokor
Stage design: Irina Solomon and Dragoş Buhagiar

Tours and Festivals

Short Theatre Festival, Oradea (1995)
Contemporary Theatre Festival, Brașov (1996)
Tour at Pucioasa (1998)
Tour in SUA and Canada, (September, 9 – 23, 1998)
Comedy Matinal Festival, Galați (2002)
Coup de theatre a Bucarest Festival (2004)

Awards

Best actress – Adriana Trandafir at National Comedy Festival, 2002
Best actress – Adriana Trandafir at Contemporary Theatre Festival, Brașov (1996)

Opening night: June 9, 1994

Press reviews

The Gossip Ladies is Michel Tremblay’s first play. Written in 1965 and staged in 1968, the play has been named “the most important, singular event in the history of the theatre in Quebec” and it is studied in all Canadian high schools. Tremblay has a complex style. He starts from naturalistic observation and builts a concert of explosive monologues and choirs.It may appear to be a simple play, but, as W. Gordon. Smith says, in his review of the staging in Tron Glasgow Theatre, “The Gossip Ladies is a theatrical jewel, that seems a vulgar cheap mineral, but is, in reality, an authentic diamond”. In 1987, the Lire magazine lists the play among the 49 all-time plays one should read, in order to learn about drama.
Written in an aparent comical register, the play shows the tragedy of each of the 15 women, the alienation and frustrations af a whole generation, brought up in the narrow-mindedness of the Quebec suburbs.
The staging of The Gossip Ladies at the Odeon Theatre gives us the chance to see almost all the actresses from Odeon. They build a collective character that goes from false politeness to denigration, denial and hate.

Anca Rotescu – Dreptatea

Petre Bokor used his experience as a filmmaker very well. The scenes have an alert rhythm, the monologues alternate with the dialogues, the close-ups and the general plans, thus emphasizing both themes of the play: the woman’s condition ( that in Canada is as poor as in anywhere else in the world), and the obssesion of a financial lucky strike ( that has begun to haunt Romanian society, as well).
The performance has rhythm and tension, humour and sadness…

Alice Georgescu – Teatrul Azi

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